Mengle Maternal Miracle

Hi, I'm Cassandra Mengle. My husband Gary and I have been blessed with many gifts. We are both college graduates. We are both articulate. We are both in love with our adopted animals. However, try as we might, we have not been blessed with children.

I'm Gary. My wife Cassandra and I, after years of unsuccessful attempts to have children with and without medical help, have decided to pursue adoption. It wasn't something we considered seriously for a long time, but as the years went on and we remained unable to start a family, it began to assume a greater and greater prominence in our plans.


At first, I didn't expect any problems. My family, mom and sisters are as fertile as the day is long. Unfortunately, that is not the case for me. You see, I was in a car accident when I was ten where I, among other injuries, bashed my head into the vehicle. It left goose egg on my head that I still wear to this day. This caused my pituitary gland to not function as well as it should. Which in turn caused so many little things to go wrong with my body. The most devastating of which is infertility.

At the beginning of August an opportunity arose. Our Birth Mom, a friend of a friend, is very, very young and wants to give her baby, due in November, up for adoption. Cass and I met with her and she told us she wants us to be the adoptive parents of her baby (gender still unknown.) But the costs of adoption are enormous: $12,000 for lawyers, $3,000 for living expenses, $1500 just to get the home study started with more expenses along the way. Another $1,000 for counseling for our Birth Mom. As the adoptive parents, the full financial burden falls on us.


However, there was a small chance, a glimmer of hope that my doctor was confident that she could get us pregnant. She was right! We were over the moon! Some of my more mild issues became more pronounced but I was ready to sacrifice my body for that child. We went in for our 10 week check up and our baby had not developed past 6 weeks. But, my body, really my soul, was still holding on to that baby as if it were still growing and had not passed on from life. We mourned forever but the fact that I got pregnant was hope, but without the glimmer.

We own our own home with plenty of space and want more than anything to share our lives with children. But we are not wealthy folk. $20K+ is a lot of money. I'm stripping every cent out of my 401K to do this. Our families, also not wealthy, are helping as best they can. But in order to make this happen, we need a little help. Well, more than a little. Thus this GoFundMe.

Then, we chose to start fertility treatments. The doctor gave me medicine that most women with fertility issues have success with, but I had reactions to them. They affected my eyesight, which is still not back to 100%. Then, another pill, one is also for breast cancer patients. Though I took two rounds of this drug, no babies. Then, I started on hormone injections. Up and down, I rode the bucking monster all along knowing, hoping for our baby. After four rounds of increasing amounts of injections, my pregnancy test came back positive! I was again over the moon and confident enough to start ordering fabric to begin creating the perfect nursery. But, on a second test, my pregnancy numbers did not rise. But, still, I had hope in my heart. I'd put in in all this effort and sacrifice, surely it wouldn't be for nothing? So, approaching the ultrasound, I was not ready, not prepared, not willing to see the truth. There was nothing. No baby, no hope, just nothing.

Right away, we need about $5,500 to get the home study program started and get initial payment to the lawyers, and to start helping our Birth Mom out with her living expenses. Financial incentives — like an Ohio tax deduction for adoptive parents — will help us out down the line. But right now we need your help to get the process moving, and because the baby is due in November, we're not flush with time, either.

I lost all sense of time and reality. Even now, I do not remember the month after that scan. It took me a year to fully recover from the devastation that I chose to put my body through. The incident still causes me to pause but now I know, now I see that I am meant for better things. I have been given a blessing, the trust and love of a young woman who wants me, us, to have the most precious of things, her child, our child.

Of course, having a child comes with a load of its own expenses, adopted or not. But I'm confident that we can handle those — once we have the initial hurdle of the adoption expenses behind us. Please consider helping us as best you can so that we can get started on our dream of having a family.